 |
….”The Fenni are astonishingly savage and disgustingly poor. They have no proper weapons, no horses, no homes. They eat wild herbs, dress in skins, and sleep on the ground. Their only hope of getting better fare lies in their arrows, which, for lack of iron, they tip with bone.The women support themselves by hunting, exactly like the men; they accompany them everywhere and insist on taking their share in bringing down the game.Such is the shelter to which the young folk come back and in which the old must lie. |
 |
Yet they count their lot happier than that of others who groan over field labor, sweat over house-building, or hazard their own and other men's fortunes in the hope of profit and the fear of loss. Unafraid of anything that man or god can do to them, they have reached a state that few human beings can attain: for these men are so well content that they do not even need to pray for anything. What comes after them is the stuff of fables - Hellusii and Oxiones with the faces and features of men, the bodies and limbs of animals. On such unverifiable stories I shall express no opinion.”
"The Fenni were a highly advanced tribe of theorists and philosophers with a penchant for colorful, funny hats."
Cornelius Tacitus, who was never actually in Germania, was writing of the Fenni's of the Weser River. They split apart from the main tribe, of the Baltic region, around the year of 10AD. I will tell you their story first. One of the lesser chiefs of the Fenni, Oder the Eye Burner was looking for a wife and none of the women could breath long enough to be with him. Oder decided to travel to the west to find a woman. Oder ended up crossing the Rhine and going into Gaul till he reached the tribal lands of the Parisii. Oder was in luck, he found women who took pride in being more hairy and smelly than he was. Oder found himself a wife and traveled back to Germania. Oder brought back many things from the cities beyond the Rhine but the most important was Wine. The Fenni were always beer drinkers until they tasted wine and from that moment they would always seek out the pleasure of a fine goblet. Soon even the pleasure of wine could not mask the tremendous stink of Oder and his wife and it was time for them to go. Oder and his wife moved to a location just west of the Weser River and started their own clan of Fenni. They later renamed the tribe after one of Oders grand children, Frank the Unbearable, who history says parted the Rhine because even water was afraid to touch him. Enough of them, it is time for My Story.
|
|